ESPE Abstracts

Background: Central precocious puberty (CPP) may affect quality of life (QOL) due to premature body and psychological changes that characterize this pathology. Few data are available on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and social, emotive and behavioral competences in CPP children treated with gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists (GnRHa). This study aimed to investigate these aspects in a group of CPP girls during therapy.Methods: Fifty-four CPP...

Background: Congenital hyperinsulinism (CHI; MIM #256450) is the most common cause of persistent hypoglycaemia in children. Recessive inactivating mutations in KATP channel subunits, encoded by ABCC8 and KCNJ11 genes, are the most common cause of CHI. Mutations of these genes usually cause forms of CHI which in the vast majority of patients are unresponsive to first line medical treatment with diazoxide. Multiple daily standard octreotide injections combine...

Background: Apparent mineralocorticoid excess (AME) is a rare congenital autosomal recessive disorder resulting from mutations in the HSD11B2 gene, which encodes the kidney isozyme of 11-β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2, inactivating circulating cortisol to the less-active metabolite cortisone. Less than 100 cases of AME have been reported in the literature so far. Affected individuals have elevated renal concentrations of cortisol, which can cross-react and activate...

Background: Combined pituitary hormone deficiency (CPHD) is a condition that causes deficiency of several hormones produced by the pituitary gland. The first signs of this condition include a failure to grow at the expected rate and short stature that usually becomes apparent in early childhood. Other features of CPHD include hypothyroidism, delayed puberty, and deficiency of the hormonal cortisol. Some conditions may exacerbate the growth failure of CPHD. Osteogenesis imperfe...

Background: Isolated hypoaldosteronism is an autosomal recessive inherited disorder of terminal aldosterone synthesis, leading to selective aldosterone deficiency. Two different biochemical forms of this disease have been described, called aldosterone synthase deficiency or corticosterone methyl oxydase, types 1 and 2. In type 1, there is no aldosterone synthase activity and the 18 hydroxycorticosterone (18 OHB) level is low, whereas in type 2, a residual activity of aldostero...

Background: Endogenous GH secretion physiologically increases during puberty. In particular, a correlation between GH levels and pubertal stages can be stated. Therefore, it is possible that some patients with childhood-onset GH deficiency (GHD) at puberty normalize their GH secretion. Finally, there are not so far assessed potential predictors of persistent GHD in patients during puberty.Objective and hypotheses: Our study aims evaluating the normalisat...

Background: Menarche is a milestone in human sexual development as it denotes the achievement of fertility. Few studies have evaluated the age at menarche (AAM) in chronic respiratory disease.Objective: The main aim of this study is to investigate AAM and menarcheal determinants in girls affected by Cystic Fibrosis or Asthma, and to compare their AAM with healthy girls’ one.Subjects and method: The study was conducted on 1207 ...

Background: Ovarian reserve is defined as the functional potential of the ovary, which reflects the number and quality of the follicles left in the ovary at any given time. In literature there studies about the evaluation of ovarian reserve after ovariectomy for tumors and cysts, using serum markers, such as inhibin-B, and anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH), combined to ultrasonographic markers, in adult women but none in peri-pubertal girls.Case presentation:...

Introduction: Limitations of the available imaging technique led the introduction of a new quantitative approach ultrasound-based for assessment of bone tissue in pediatric subjects. This new methodology use data from unfiltered radio frequency signals, collected during ultrasonographic acquisition of bone district of interest to estimate the bone mineral density. Advantages of this new technique include absence of radiation exposure, low cost of management an...

Management of type 1 diabetes in preschool children is a huge challenge for their caregivers. Age-specific factors (e.g. unpredictable food intake and physical activity, small insulin doses, high insulin sensitivity, frequent intercurrent infections, high variability in insulin requirements) increase the complexity of daily diabetes management. Furthermore, the preschool child depends completely on his/her caregiver. To meet recommended treatment targets while avoiding hypogly...